Milo of Verona
Milo (
Milo was a son of Manfred, from
Berengar I's vassal
Milo's first documentary appearance associates him with the city of
In November 910, Milo was one of ten vassals of the king who acted as a judicial "college" during two
As a loyal support and vassal, Milo was rewarded by Berengar with a real property after Berengar was crowned Emperor by Pope John X in 915. The diploma recording this royal gift is now lost. Milo was eventually welcomed into the imperial household—the so-called familia—of Berengar as head of the emperor's personal bodyguard. He was holding this position when, on 7 April 924, Berengar was assassinated at Verona. According to Bishop Liutprand of Cremona, a contemporary, Milo had tried in vain to warn the emperor of the conspiracy. Three days after the assassination, he caught the assassin, the steward (sculdascio) Flambert, and hanged him alongside his accomplices.[1]
Hugh's vassal
Milo retained his status as a royal vassal after the coronation of King
According to Liutprand of Cremona, Milo was one of the noblemen who helped quash a tentative rebellion around 930. Two local judges, Walpert and Everard Gezo, were plotting to assassinate the king in collaboration with some dissident nobles during one of Hugh's visits to the capital, Pavia. The plot became known, and Everard Gezo was captured, his eyes and tongue cut out.[1]
Like his predecessor, Hugh rewarded Milo for his loyalty with grants of public rights, land and offices. By 929, Milo had received from Hugh the right to collect the decima or tithe, an annual tax of a tenth (probably not an ecclesiastical tithe), in the jurisdiction of the villa of
In 930 or 931, Hugh embarked on a major reorganization of the kingdom. He appointed new loyalist counts
Count of Verona
First revolt
In June 931, the
By 934 the situation at Verona had become intolerable. Milo and Rather actively recruited Duke
According to Liutprand of Cremona, Arnulf and his army were welcomed "gleefully" (libenter) by the count and the bishop and a party of "the most noble men" (honestiores), but were forced to retreat in the face of Hugh's vigorous opposition. In order to salvage something from his defeat, Arnulf intended to take Milo, the instigator of the enterprise, back to Bavaria as a hostage. Getting wind of this plan and in fear of his life, Milo surrendered Hugh. In revenge Arnulf captured Milo's brother Manfred, who had been defending the citadel of Verona against the Bavarian army. By 935 Arnulf and his son had returned to Bavaria.[1]In the aftermath of the revolt, Milo lost influence at court, but retained his county. His co-conspirator, Rather, was imprisoned at Pavia, then exiled to
Second revolt
In 936, Hugh moved to weaken the power and influence of the
In the winter of 941–42, Anscar's brother
Milo appears at his strongest during Berengar's return to Italy, acting almost a kingmaker, although Berengar refrained from deposing Hugh, preferring the claim to be governing on his behalf. Liutprand of Cremona defends Milo for his second rebellion against Hugh. He baldly asserts that Milo was not "unfaithful" (infidelis) to Hugh because his actions were necessary given Hugh's overbearing behaviour. He also describes Milo as a described as a "very powerful count" (praepotens comes).[1]
Shortly after Berengar's assumption of power, Rather returned to Italy. His return to Verona was initially opposed by Milo, and he was imprisoned by Berengar for three and a half months. Manasses, who already held other dioceses and responsibilities, was then shunted aside and Rather was reluctantly welcomed back to Verona by Milo. The count took advantage of the shakeup in the diocese to seize control of its revenues. In his own letters, Rather calls his treatment under Milo a "martyrdom" that lasted two years while the count tried to keep him from exercising his office fully. Posing as the "advocate and protector"[f] of the diocese, Milo prevented Rather from managing ecclesiastical properties, implementing clerical reforms and, most importantly, convoking a diocesan synod. Rather remarked in one letter, "I would rather hunger under Hugh than make merry under Milo".[g][1]
It has been hypothesised that Milo was behind the theft of the relics of a local Veronese priest, Saint Metro, housed in the church of San Vitale, by the people of nearby Bolzano Vicentino, in order to deprive Rather of the support of a local saint's cult. Rather himself, however, calls this a "laudable theft" (furtus laudibilis), presumably because it rescued the saint's relics from Milo.[1]
Control of the church
In 947 Hugh died and his son and co-king, Lothair, became sole ruler. In May 948, Lothair convinced Rather to leave Verona for his personal safety and Bishop Manasses returned. In October, however, Archbishop Arderic died and the archdiocese of Milan fell vacant. Berengar put Manasses forward as a candidate, but he was rejected by the Milanese, who elected one Adalman. Milo, looking to weaken Manasses as bishop of Verona by distracting him elsewhere, lent support to Adalman. For the next five years, Manasses was preoccupied with the conflict over Milan.[1]
Milo took advantage of the Milanese quarrel to negotiate his own economic control of the diocese of Verona. With the consent of Pope
Margrave
After Lothair's death in 950, Berengar took the throne. His mistreatment of Lothair's widow,
In September 953, Milo used the title "margrave" for the first time in a description of boundaries. He probably received the title from Berengar II as a reward for his loyalty. It may also have been part of Berengar's effort to reconstitute the old margravate of Friuli as a bulwark against the Magyars and Slavs. At the same time, Milo's nephew Egelric, brother of the bishop, was raised to the rank of count.[1]
At Ronco all'Adige on 10 July 955, Milo drew up his will. It is his last known act and he probably died shortly after, although it is unknown when, where or how. At the time he possessed lands in Verona, including a church dedicated to Saint Paul, and three strategically placed castles at Ronco all'Adige,
Acting as a Frank and in accordance with the Salic law, Milo named as heirs to his lands his brother Manfred and nephew Egelric. He provided an annuity for the convent of San Zaccaria in Venice from the revenues of Ronco all'Adige, and specified that if Manfred and Egelric failed to produce heirs then all his lands should devolve to the convent. This generosity with a Venetian house suggests an otherwise unknown connexion. Perhaps a female relative was a nun there.[1]
Egelric succeeded Milo as count of Verona. He was deposed by Otto in 961, reverting to a mere royal vassal. Milo's family subsequently became known as "da San Bonifacio" (later Sambonifacio) after his castle.[1]
Milo's career has been compared to that of Gandulf of Piacenza, since both rose through the ranks from royal vassal to count to margrave.[1]
Footnotes
- ^ Latin: ex genere Francorum.
- ^ Latin: vasso domno [ex genere] regis Francorum.
- ^ Latin: Milo rogatus manu mea subscripsi ... Sigibaldo vasso ut supra Miloni ("I, Milo, upon request, sign with my own hand ... Sigibald, a vassal of the aforementioned Milo").[2]
- ^ Latin: Millo vassus regis filius bone recordationis Manfredi una cum Vulperga mea dilecta comite lege Francorum viventes ("Milo, a royal vassal, son of Manfred of good memory, and my beloved companion Valperga, living under the laws of the Franks...")[2]
- ^ Latin: summus regni consiliarius.
- ^ Latin: advocatus et tutor.
- ^ Latin: mallem ... esurire sub Hugone quam epulari cum Milone.
Notes
Sources
- Bougard, François (2010). "Milone". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Vol. 74. Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.
- Hlawitschka, Eduard (1960). "CXX. Milo". Franken, Alemannen, Bayern und Burgunder in Oberitalien, 774–962: Zum Verständnis der fränkischen Königsherrschaft in Italien. Freiburg.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sergi, Giuseppe (1999). "The Kingdom of Italy". In Timothy Reuter (ed.). The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press. pp. 346–71.
- Wickham, Chris (1981). Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society, 400–1000. London: Macmillan.
- Wolfram, Herwig (1999). "Bavaria in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries". In Timothy Reuter (ed.). The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press. pp. 293–309.